Work done for an adiabatic process

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 3K views
A_B
Messages
87
Reaction score
1
Hi,

In deriving the equation for adiabats : [itex]V^{\gamma}P = C[/itex]. It is assumed that the work done during the process is [itex]W = -P \Delta V[/itex].

But calculating the work done from [itex]V^{\gamma}P = C[/itex] we obtain:

[tex]W = \frac{C}{1-\gamma}\left[ V^{1-\gamma}_{f} - V^{1-\gamma}_{i} \right][/tex].

Also, i believe to have heard that the assumption used for the derivation ([itex]W = -P \Delta V[/itex]) is due to the assumption that the process is quasi-static, how does that work exactly?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
whoops, never mind, the derivation uses [itex]W = -P dV[/itex] for an infinitesimal change, that makes sense, but I'd still like some more info on what a quasi-static process means and where in the derivation it's used.